Takht-e Jamshid (Travel Around The World)

The Greeks called it Persepolis, today it is Takht-e Jamshid; but to its ancient Persian builders, so central was it their idea of who they were, they called it simply Pārsa, which means "The City of Persians". Built by the founding fathers of the great Persian dynasty; Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes in the 5th century BCE, it is thought the city was uninhabited for most of the year but occupied for the Nowruz new year celebrations in the spring and served as a platform to project the Persian empire's wealth and brilliance and to receive tribute from the subject nations of the Empire. None of this however was enough to protect it when Alexander the Great burned the city to the ground in 330 BCE. It is not clear if it was a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Hellenic-Persian War or, perhaps, the consequences of a colossal victory party.